Gold-saving apparatus.



No. 769,886. PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904. J. S. BOLLINGER.

GOLD SAVING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED IBB. 3, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904.

J. S. BOLLINGER. GOLD SAVING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No MODEL.

Wnessesz- NiTED STATES Patented September 13, 1904.

PATENT EErcE.

JAMES S. BOLLINGER, OF CHEROKEE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO JOHN A. CLARK, OF YANKEE HILL, CALIFORNIA.

GOLD-SAVING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,886, dated September 13, 1904.

Application filed February 3, 1904:. Serial No. 191,816. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, J AMES S. BOLLINGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cherokee, in the county of Butte and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gold-Saving Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in gold-saving apparatus, and particularly in means for use in conjunction with riflled or like surfaces for retarding the Velocity of the undercurrent to allow concentration of the values.

It consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, having reference to the accompanying' drawings, in which-w Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of form shown in Fig. 1. Figs. 4, 6, and 8 are modifications, and Figs. 3, 5, and 7 are respective sectional views similar to Fig. l.

A represents a sluice or table used in mining or milling and having a suitably riflled or roughened surface. The riffles may be of wood, metal, or fabric, such as burlap or duck or corrugated rubber, as shown at 2.

My invention resides in the use of a suitable retarding and distributing agent for the water, sand, and values, as, for example, as shown in Fig. 1, the sections of wire screening 3, secured at their upper end to the bottom of the sluice or table and allowed to depend freely downstream. The sections are of suitable length, weight of material, and size of mesh, dependent on the character of the material handled, and are so disposed in the sluice or over the table that one section will slightly overlap the section neXt succeeding below, and the width of the screen-sections is preferably just equal to the inside width of the sluice or the distance between the longitudinal partitions 4 on the table. The object and advantage of the use of flexible screensections of this character and construction are that they serve to arrest the undercurrent of water, at the same time allowing the liner and heavier sands and values and water to pass freely through and under the screen and over the entire riflled surface, while the riflies are protected from and kept clear of the coarser gravels, the screens partaking of a slightly und ulatory movement and forming, as it were,

a constantly-moving foraminous partition between the values and liner sands on the riflied rubber mat and the body7 of water and coarser barren gravel above. It is understood that this screening would be used particularly where the conditions of current, amount and size of gravel, &c., were favorable and such as not to cause the screens to curl unduly at the edges, since it is one object of the screens to let only sands of a certain size fall into the rif-fles. By maintaining the screens the full width of the sluice or table section no chance is offered for the ingress of coarse gravel around the edges of and beneath the screens. Again, the screen-sections should not be so long as to allow any considerable quantity of sand to bank up at any one spot beneath them, the desire being to distribute the sands evenly over the entire rililed surface, working' them gradually downward and collecting the line gold in the riiiies. For that reason it is preferred that the screen be not tacked down close and rigid upon the riifles, but be approximate thereto, so that a certain movement of sand and water is permissible beneath the screen. By having the screens arranged in successive sections, each section separately 8O tacked down or otherwise secured at its upper end to the sluice or table, the sand is progressed more rapidly over the table or sluice and is brought into closer intimacy with the riflles.

Under some circumstances it may be desirable to use a heavy grade of wire mesh or screen and employ strips of duck or other suitable fabric 5, secured to the screen at suitable intervals and allowed to stretch out downstream, as shown in Fig 3, and so further assist to retard the velocity of the water and gravel. Duck is preferably used, for by fraying' the edges the ends of the transverse threads unravel to form lateral thickened portions 6, which serve to impede the velocity of the water. Again, I may omit the screens altogether and in lieu use simply pieces of heavy duck in conjunction with the corrugated rubber mat, as shown in Fig. 5. In this case I employ strips 3, of duck or like suitable fabric, each from two to six or more inches in width and of a length equal to the width of the sluice and having the threads which run lengthwise of the strip drawn for a distance from its lower edge, so as to leave only those threads 5 which extend in the direction of the flow of the current. l These strips are tacked down at suitable intervals in the length of the sluice and act as arresters for the undercurrent and gravel. The separated threads 5 tend to unravel at the ends and form protuberances 6. which still further aid in the retardation of the current.

In Fig. 7 is shown a combination ofthe forms of- Figs. l and 5, the raveled fabric being secured to the riffled surface with the screen and coacting therewith to impede the current and assist concentration. Thus as the material comes off of one screen-section it encounters the strands of fabric and is checked before passing onto the succeeding screensection, some of the heavier particles working down through the strands but the finer particles are found to be saved through the agency of the screens. n

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination with a rifiied or like surface of submerged sections of foraminous material flexibly held at one end adjacent to said surface and arranged as a perforate partition between the finer sands and values and the coarser material above.

2. rIhe combination with a riffled or like surface of an arrester for the undercurrent of water flowing thereover. comprising a series of successively-arranged flexible screen-sections secured at their upper ends to said surface and approximately of the same width as said surface.

3. rfhe combination with a riffled or like surface of screen-sections secured at one end to said surface and extending in the direction of iiow of the water thereover and arranged to retard the velocity of the undercurrent and to separate and distribute the sand and values.

4. The combination with a rifiied surface of flexible foraminous sections adjacent thereto and heldat one end, and adapted as a perforate partition between the finer sands and values and coarse material, said sections extending the width of said surface.

5. The combination with a riffled or like surface of a exible screenssection secured at one end to said surface and of a width approximately equal to the width of said surface.

6; The combination with a riiiied surface, of submerged, iiexible, foraminous sections adjacent thereto and serving as a perforate partition between the finer sands and values and coarser material, said sections secured at one end and having the opposite end provided with means for retarding the velocity of the Water.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' J AMES S. BOLLINGER.

Witnesses:

BADER, JAs. LAFFERTY. 

